


The Beast Tamer

by lobsterkaijin



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Animal Death, Backstory, Discord: The Kingdom of Shipping (Dr. STONE), Gen, Gore, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:15:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobsterkaijin/pseuds/lobsterkaijin
Summary: For as long as Tei can remember, it's just been him. The forest raised him, taught him to hunt and survive, and so he's been blissfully unaware of this fact until the day he meets others just like him, and suddenly he's experiencing feelings he doesn't even have the words for — despair, emptiness, boredom, and longing. Suddenly he wants something, and that something isn't tangible for once; if only he knew what it was. Suddenly he's faced with a question: Is hesupposedto be alone?They say ignorance is bliss. They might be right.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19





	1. Floating wood, and the ones who defend it

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place a few years before canon.

There’s freshly fallen snow.

A thin layer of it collected on him in his sleep. He wakes up to a cold wind and shakes it off, shivering. After untying himself from his dwelling, unravelling his bundle, and retrieving his furs, he’s ready to brave the start of winter. If it’d come earlier this year than the last, he wouldn’t have noticed, but it had. All he notices now is one strip of dried jerky left in the bag. This morning would be spent hunting.

With his last meal being hours ago, the hunger is starting to creep up on him. It takes him half the morning to find signs of life. Tracks wind around the forest and disappear into a glen, and he follows them. Climbing the side of the cliff, he sees a parting of trees, and beyond that he spots a mouth-wateringly beautiful sight, a gorgeous thing standing tall and fair, her full coat in stark contrast to the untouched snow around her.

His grip on his spear tightens. 

_“Wait for it.”_ A man’s voice instructs him, staying his hand, steady, strict, and balanced, while his attention is trained on their prey, a glassy-eyed doe with floppy ears and a mouth full of leaves. The hunter attempts to get closer but freezes when the prey senses her impending death. She lifts her head to assess the situation and goes back to grazing when she doesn’t hear anything suspicious. Working his way around the clearing, he situates himself directly above her and waits. When she turns to look for yellower pastures, he pushes off the ledge onto her, and the struggle to survive begins. 

Bucking and bowing her legs, she cries and cries and throws herself all around the clearing, kicking up snow as she clings to strength she does not have, but his need for food outweighs her, and she buckles to the ground, still screaming out, fearful and cursing her fate. There’s no contest with his arm squeezed tightly around her throat. The outcome is already decided. She needs to accept it if she wants to know peace, and she knows it, so accept it she does. Her cries begin to die. The moment has arrived, and he lifts his spear, aiming it directly for her throat. In one swift movement, he cuts right through the jugular and into the cervical spine, severing it. It’s merciful and painless, and her body falls limp.

He sits up and claps his hands together three times, bowing at her body as it drains, and he wishes her a safe passage to the life beyond. The one who guided him is not there when he turns back to look, so he’ll have to carry the animal back on his own. He takes some rope from his bundle and ties it around the body, places her on his braided trap, and drags her behind him.

On the way back he finds a rock that’s been cracked in half, probably by lightning or by another larger rock falling onto it, and he picks it up to place between the blankets in his bundle. Such a split — sharp only at the apex and tapered smoothly near the base for ease of holding — means it could be used for skinning the deer, since his last one broke apart a few days ago. It makes him so happy to have another skinning knife that he smiles all the way back to his tree dwelling.

Because he bled it from the neck, it doesn’t bleed much more when he makes the initial cut and peels away the hide. He’s careful to limit how many cuts he makes, and keeps the tendons and muscle clean shaven, parting layer by layer, precise in separating the fascia from the bundles of muscles, and the bundles of muscles from the bone. He makes sure to scrape off all the fat as well, though this one in particular doesn’t have much. When in need, the brain not only makes for a good detergent, but a source of fat as well. With some effort and a well-placed wooden stake, he cracks the skull open and scoops out the brain, dividing it in half to keep some for the hide.

He divides the entrails between edible and inedible. The liver can be used for stew. It might even taste good with those tanned round root plants he found in the ground a week ago. He tried to eat one and it was bland and hard and dry, but he didn’t get sick from it, so it must be safe to eat. He still hasn’t figured out a way to cook them. The intestines are full of foul-smelling gunk, but the stomach is empty, and he removes it and sets it aside for drying. It can be used as a bag to carry water. He leaves the unusable parts inside the animal.

He puts the meat, fat and brain, and dried berry mixture to smoke over a fire while he gets to work on tanning the hide. The skin will need soaking in a combination of brain and water, which he fetches from a nearby river. His washing basin just barely fits the entire thing, though that leaves him without a bath for a few days. After taking a break to empty his bladder and a quick wash in the snow, he’s back in his tree to remove the meat from the fire, and rewards himself with a piece of jerky. It’s tough and chewy, but it’s a meal.

Now the unusable parts need to be buried. He wraps the deer’s bones and entrails with leaves and fiber, and carries them a distance away. He clears the snow out of the way, digs a shallow hole, and fills it. If another animal finds the remains and eats them, it would make him happy.

The sun sits at its peak.

The rest of the day is spent straightening up the roof of his shelter, and patching up a hole in the flooring. Last time he left it, a bird got in and tore up his cover. It tasted good with wild mushrooms.

When the sun sets, he eats another piece of jerky. Wrapped in furs, feet dangling and stomach full, he watches the light disappear behind the trees. He lingers a moment longer, overcome with something he doesn’t have the words to describe, and crawls back into his dwelling to sleep.

He rises with the sun. It’s colder than yesterday, and he drags his feet. Yawning into his hand, he pokes at his soppy hide. After inspecting it and deciding it’s not ready for tanning yet, he retrieves another piece of jerky from his bundle and sits in his usual spot to watch the sky while wrapped in his fur cloak. There’s nothing but grey stretching out in front of him. No clouds though. It might be a good day to hunt rabbits. Their fur will be nice and thick.

As he turns to get up, something dark catches his vision, something thick and black floating in the sky somewhere off in the distance. A forest fire? In the summer it’d be a natural occurrence because the weather is dry and the rain is scarce, but he’s never seen it when there’s snow on the ground, and if it were, the forest’s inhabitants would dash the opposite way, and he’d feel the rumble all the way here, but there’s nothing but stillness, and it’s too small to be of any note. It’s controlled, like what he uses to cook his meat, so it has to be the same.

Throwing his cloak aside, he scrambles down the tree and takes off running. The morning’s breeze melts off him. The cold is his fuel and the snow can’t slow him down; he’s a hunter with a target. His lungs catch fire with every breath. His eyes sting. Every part of him screams yet his mind is clear. All he sees is smoke. Smoke from a fire, but not just any fire, a _campfire,_ something that animals can’t make. Only he can make it. Then it can’t be an animal. It’s something else.

By the time he finds it, all that’s left are charred branches and stray embers. A little heat still comes off it when he puts his hands near. They can’t be far off. He whirls around, looking for any sign of where they might’ve gone, and there under the trees are undeniable footprints. Two sets, evenly spaced, around the size of his hand; whoever made them can’t be any bigger than he is, and they didn’t go in a hurry. It’s possible to catch up if he runs.

The forest fades to colours in his periphery as he rushes over bushes and ducks below branches, until finally he arrives at another clearing and finds himself surrounded by water on all sides. His heart drops to his feet when he turns around and realizes he has no idea which direction he’s just come from. 

Hugging his spear close to his chest, he crawls out from the underbrush, keeping low to the ground and letting the snow provide cover. There’s nothing as far as he can see, and he comes to a set of planks hanging from one side of the river to the other. He’s never seen wood that floats in mid-air! There aren’t any trees for them to lay on, how are they doing that? He figures it out with a closer inspection. The ropes wrapping around the stakes also link each wooden plank to the others, and the whole structure is stabilized by overlapping the ropes in braids and looping them back around to the other side. He takes a step forward and places his foot flat on them. The structure doesn’t sway with his weight.

It’s then he feels the eyes on him, and narrowly avoids being skewered by a spear. Another comes at him from the other side, which he blocks with his own, and maneuvers to lock the assailant in a hold, then using his own as a lever, pulls and sends the spear flying at a sharp angle, where it hits a tree across the field. The first comes at him again, more ferocious than before, striking faster and with more precision, until his spear is thrown from his hands and splashes below. He holds his hands up and backs away. That’s when he gets a good look at them. 

The obviously older of the two is also the stronger one. He’s taller and his hair is darker, he’s barely broken a sweat and he’s still holding his spear at the ready. The younger one has hair like a dandelion and a face as soft as dough. Like a bunny, he hides behind the taller one, trembling. 

They’re both smaller than he is though. The footprints in the snow definitely belonged to these two.

“There are no outsiders allowed in the village. You have to leave.” Despite his wolfish appearance, the older one sounds more like a pup barking orders at a mountain lion. 

There are only a few words the other can recognize, and he cocks his head to the side. “No outside... Leave?” His voice is hoarse from disuse, and it makes the wolf pup squint.

“Do you understand?” He doesn’t put his spear down, but his stance loosens.

“No under...stand.”

The older turns to the younger. “Ginrō, let go.”

“B-But Kinrō—” They have some sort of silent exchange, and he backs up, dejected, as the older one pulls away to approach the floating planks.

“Look here.” Using his spear, he points to the other side of the waterway, and then back at the stranger. “No crossing. If you do,” He shifts into an attack stance and jabs the air with his spear. “Understand?”

Ah, so they’re animals too. They have their own territory that they are willing to guard with their lives, and if threatened, they will bare their fangs. He only wishes he hadn’t lost his own in that fight. He nods in understanding, and flees back into the forest.

Ginrō retrieves his spear from where it landed, and returns to his brother. “Are you going to tell the Chief about this?”

Kinrō gives an apprehensive look to where the intruder appeared from. He tracked them down and fought the both of them. Even if he lost, he’s strong, and that makes him dangerous, and now that he knows there are other people here, he might come back when there’s no one guarding the bridge. Rules are rules, they’re in place for a reason.

“We have to.”


	2. Words, and the people they belong to

It takes him two days to find his way back home. He returns come nightfall, and is so cold his teeth won’t stop chattering long enough to let him eat. Instead he dives under his furs and curls up to sleep. 

He wakes to a blindingly hot pain in his right foot, and to his horror, discovers his littlest toe is black and shrivelled. It’s hard as a rock and he can’t feel it, but the area right above is red and burns when he touches it. His other toes are red and blistered, but it’s the blackened toe he’s worried about. He can’t even attempt to walk on it. This will make it hard to work and hunt. It has to be removed. 

He retrieves his hunting knife from his bundle and grits his teeth, bearing through the pain as he makes a clean cut and slices the dead appendage off. He clenches his eyes shut, and for a moment, all he sees is red. It hurts. It really,  _ really _ hurts. He’s burned his hand while stoking a fire before, and this feels exactly like that, except much worse. It doesn’t feel much better when he wraps it in scrap leather, and the purple blood soaks right through. Thankfully it doesn’t bleed for long.

When the pain wanes, he dresses his feet and goes to check on his wash basin. The deerskin has thickened nicely, so he takes it down to the river and empties the basin, washes the skin of the mixture, and scrapes it with the flat end of his cracked rock. Back in his dwelling, he hangs it, making sure to rub at it whenever the water begins to freeze. When it dries, he slices it to make extra coverings for his feet and a pair for his hands, using a splinter to loop fiber around the edges to close them, and stuffs them with the fur of rabbits he’d caught when it was warmer out. There’s still quite a bit leftover. Should he save it?

Staring at the hide, the image of the boys from the field comes to mind. Their hands were smaller than his. So were their feet. Both were uncovered. Maybe they’d like something to wear.

He ventures out some time later. This time he carries his bundle with him, so that if he gets lost again, he can camp out with furs and food. He’s also crafted another spear, and brought his hunting knife with him. Traversing the snowy forest is much more comfortable when he’s covered head to toe in skins and furs, and now that he’d travelled it once, it doesn’t take as long to find the field with the floating planks again. The guards perk up, jolting to their feet when they spot him with their spears at the ready.

“You again?” The younger one says. “Didn’t we teach you this lesson already?”

Once again barking like a wolf pup, the older one regards him with suspicion. “What do you want?”

He freezes, and slowly raises his hands. The words are slow to come to mind and slower to come from his mouth, but they’re words he’s heard before and can’t remember where. He pleads, “D… Don’t hurt me.”

“Hey, we’re not like that,” the small one says, but the older shushes him.

“Walk away, and we won’t have a reason to hurt you.”

The hunter cocks his head. Now he’s not sure what to do. Are they going to hurt him or not? Before they said they’d only hurt him if he tried to cross the bridge again, but now he’s not doing even that and he’s being threatened. If they don’t understand the words he’s making, then he’ll speak to them a different way. He crouches down to dig the smaller bundle out from his skins, and holds it out to them.

“What is that?”

Remaining crouched, he approaches a little closer. “For you.”

This warms the smaller one up immediately. “Really? A gift?” Before the older one can stop him, he’s sauntering over and snatching it from the hunter’s hand. “I wonder what it is, heh heh. Oh Kinrō, look!” A bright smile replaces his skepticism, and he holds out his gloved hands to admire the handiwork, turning them this way and that and letting out a giggle. Digging through the bundle some more, he finds the foot coverings with a tiny “A-ha!” and flops into the snow to wiggle his feet into them. “There’s fur in here! They’re so soft and warm.”

“Stop it, Ginrō! It could be a trap!” 

The older one says that, but as the younger one tests out the foot coverings by kicking around in the snow, he’s been quietly inching closer to inspect the gift. Noticing his brother’s apprehension, the younger one holds out the bundle to him and wiggles his eyebrows. Powerless, the older takes it with a  _ hmph _ and turns his back to the other two while he retrieves his own pair. Though he makes no obvious indication whether he likes or dislikes them, he wears them nonetheless.

The younger slaps the hunter on the back. “Thanks, buddy! You’re real nice, y’know.”

He nods in response.

The wolf pup looks thoughtful. “Whatever your scheme may be, don’t think you can win me over so easily… er, what should we call you?”

“Call? F… For… what?” The only kind of call he knows is a mating call. He doesn’t think there’s a mating call for their kind of animal and grimaces at the thought of these two trying to come up with one for him.

Realizing their new friend probably doesn’t understand what he means, the younger points at himself. “Ginrō,” and then points at the older one, “Kinrō.”

Oh. It’s not what animal they are, but a word that belongs to them. Does he have his own word? It’s vague, but there’s a memory buried deep in his brain. Someone who used to talk to him a lot. A smiling face high up above him. Their mouth is moving, they’re gesturing at something far away. A deer? What are they saying?  _ “...i... ei... T...ei... Tei, come look. _ ” So  _ that’s _ his word.

Mimicking Ginrō’s pointing, he repeats back an introduction. “Tei.” 

Kinrō nods. “Ah yes, Tei. As I was saying, you will not fool me.”

“So, d’ya have a cute sister?”

Is Ginrō seriously interrupting for  _ that? _ Eyebrows furrowed, Kinrō steps in. “Ginrō, you can’t just ask that.”

“Why not? We already told the Chief about him. Wouldn’t it be better if we knew how many outsiders live close by?” Ginrō shrugs. “Do you live with anyone else?”

Tei blinks, expression blank.

Ginrō gestures between the two of them. “Do you have any family? Like me and Kinrō, our mom and dad live in the village, so there’s four people in our family. How many are there of you, and are any of them cute girls?”

Tei thinks about the voice that guides him through the forest and instructs him, but is never there when he actually tries to look, and about the voice that wakes him up in the middle of the night sometimes when he’s in trouble. He thinks about the hand that steadies his spear but belongs to no one that he can see, and about the long hair and smiling face that only appears in his periphery. He thinks about the things that speak in his memory, two distinct sounds, one low and rumbling like thunder, the other floating like a cloud. 

Family... Family? Tei lets out a strangled, vaguely pained noise. “One.”

The two of them parrot back, “One?”

Tei shakes his head. “Only one.”

“That kinda sucks. You’re all by yourself?” Ginrō’s face falls. Tei’s an outsider, so he shouldn’t care, and he  _ doesn’t. _ Even outsiders have families though, right? But all outsiders are dangerous, because all outsiders are criminals they kicked out in the past. Tei is an outsider, he  _ must _ be a criminal, and that means Tei did something to warrant being kicked out. Yeah,  _ that _ part makes sense. There’s just one teensy little detail that fit. Tei doesn’t  _ feel _ like a criminal. 

This sure is complicated. Good thing he’s got his secret technique:  _ It’s someone else’s problem. _ Kinrō will deal with it.

Kinrō’s jaw tightens. Trying to imagine what it’d be like outside Ishigami Village, with no one, not even Ginrō? It hurts, but Kinrō won’t soon forget their last encounter. Despite how kind Tei is, he will not sway them, and he cannot stay.

Kinrō nods to himself, resolute, and comes to stand between his brother and Tei. “You need to leave this place. I mean it this time. Go away. Since you’re alone, I’ll let you go one last time, but if you’re lying, then we will show no mercy.”

_ Go away.  _ Registering the meaning, Tei’s gaze falls to his feet. It’s just like when he watches the sun set. That same feeling he doesn’t have the words for gets stuck in his throat. Chest tight, he backs away, and when Kinrō and Ginrō don’t try to stop him, he turns to the forest.

The brothers stand in the silence, the sun behind them. They’re thinking the same thing. It’s dark where Tei disappeared to. Dark, and probably lonely. This is supposed to be the right thing to do. Following the rules is the right thing to do.

“Kinrō...”

“I know.”

Tei was limping.


	3. Doubts, and those who breed them

They’ve been organizing hunting parties for weeks and nothing’s turned up. When Kinrō and Ginrō returned last month, they reported another encounter with the deer-headed hunter. Since then, there hasn’t been another sighting. That doesn’t mean they can take it easy, but it’s taking a lot of manpower to keep vigilant. The men are tired of straying so far out from the village, and the women are complaining of a lack of help around the village. When are they going to focus on gathering and storing food? The longer shifts are taking a toll on their men. Everyone’s saying they’re hunting a ghost. Could they be right? And what if they were, then who would take responsibility?

“Father, are you alright?”

Kokuyo is jolted out of his thoughts. “What’s that, Ruri?”

The simple act of worrying over her father is enough to send her into a coughing fit. Jasper and Turquoise rush to her aid, patting her on the back and keeping her upright until she clears her spasm. “You don’t need to concern yourself with the Chief,” Jasper admonishes.

“That’s right,” Turquoise says, her patting turning into soothing circles. “You’ll make yourself even sicker than you already are.”

“I’m alright, thank you.”

“Jasper, Turquoise, leave us be for now.”

When his daughter’s guards retreat, he comes to sit beside her and gets a good look at her. She’s okay, but there are dark circles under her eyes. Poor girl is worrying herself sick. Tetsuken’s boys oughta be punished for scaring Ruri with their stories of a man with a deer head. Try as he might to keep them away from her, the speed with which rumours spread in their village is violent. If they’d only kept quiet like he’d demanded! 

But to be plagued with such sleeplessness, Ruri must’ve been deeply unsettled by the rumours. Truth be told, Kokuyo cannot get the images out of his head either — eyes like voids that steal your soul if you look into them too long, a voice that strikes fear into the hearts of even the most seasoned warriors, an amputated leg leaving behind a trail of blood, leading up to a horrific scene, the gruesome disposal of an animal carcass. Kokuyo had seen the evidence of that last one, too. That poor creature looked like it’d been torn apart by the claws of a lion, but what deer has claws like that? The less their trackers found, the more he worried, and the more his imagination played.

“Is he really a criminal, father? It must be so lonely out there in the forest.”

Kokuyo shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter if he is. He’s an outsider, and that makes him dangerous. Just focus on staying healthy and doing your duties, and I’ll make sure the village is kept safe.”

“There’s no guarantee he even exists.” Kohaku traipses into their dwelling with a steaming pot. Even the cold of winter won’t stop her from retrieving the healing spring water for her sister. “A man with a deer head? Maybe Kinrō and Ginrō were half-asleep or ate some wild mushrooms.”

“Kohaku, watch your mouth.”

She comes to set the pot down beside Ruri and hands her a towel. Only then does she remove her snow-dusted cloak to hang in front of the fireplace. Ruri pats the space beside her, snuggling up to her sister to warm her up after her journey. “I hope you didn’t run into any trouble for me.”

“I’ll take any trouble if it means helping you, Ruri.”

Kokuyo huffs. “I’ve told you before to be careful when you leave the village, especially now that someone dangerous lives close by.”

“If he’s that close by, why hasn’t anyone found him? Alabaster and Sho took Chalk to sniff him out and couldn’t find anything, even though Kinrō pointed out the direction the guy went. Magma couldn’t find him either, and he had every man in the village in his hunting party. I’ll bet he scared the guy off with all his lumbering about, so we don’t have to worry about him anymore, _if_ he’s real.”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Ruri cuts the tension between the two of them with a quiet, “I hope he’s real.”

“Yeah, ‘cause otherwise dad’ll look real dumb for sending out all those hunting parties,” Kohaku says rather pointedly.

Kokuyo stands. “Kohaku, if you’ve finished drying off, then maybe you can find something more useful to do. The women need help organizing the storeroom.”

She rises to challenge him with something bitter on her tongue, but Ruri’s gentle hand on her shoulder and a shake of her head stops Kohaku from saying it. Ruri won’t say it, that this is a waste of resources and time, that he’s worrying over nothing, that it’s hard to take him seriously when he won’t lead by example and leave the village to go chasing some _ghost,_ because she doesn’t think that badly of their father and chief. Kohaku would say it if it wouldn’t hurt Ruri’s feelings. That won’t stop her from thinking it. Kokuyo is just _scared._

“Fine. See you later then.” She makes a point of shaking the snowflakes from her cloak onto the ground before turning and storming out.

She makes it halfway down the dirt trail when Ruri comes dashing up to hug her from behind. “Stay safe!”

“Ruri! You shouldn’t be outside in just your nightclothes!”

“I’m fine, thanks to you.” She smiles brightly. “Please Kohaku, whatever you’re planning on doing, don’t swim against the current, okay?”

“What do you mean?” Kohaku returns a sly smile. “There’s nothing dangerous about helping out in the storeroom.”

“Ruri, what’re you doing outside?!” 

“Uh-oh, Jasper and Turquoise found you.”

Ruri flinches. “Kohaku—”

“Sorry, I gotta go. See you later!”

She runs off before her sister’s guards can catch her.

If this were anyone else, Kohaku wouldn’t care and go on with her duties. It wouldn’t be the first time the men went on a wild goose chase and came back with their tails between their legs (it’s fun watching them get chewed out by their wives), but it’s Ruri, wide-eyed, good-hearted, and repressed. She’s been cooped up in the village ever since the chief named her as priestess. 

Of course she was the obvious choice. Who else would he have chosen, _Kohaku?_ Nah. A priestess is supposed to be compassionate and inspiring, but most of all, she’s supposed to represent all that a woman should be. And Kohaku? Prideful, stubborn, and strong. You’d sooner find her wrestling a bear than memorizing their village’s history. At the very least, Ruri has all those stories to keep her company.

But when you’ve read the same 1000 tales over and over, sometimes you wanna hear something new.

Instead of heading to the storeroom, Kohaku takes to the outside once again, though she doesn’t travel far. Since it’s surrounded by trees on all sides, one might miss it in the dark, except Kohaku’s eyes and ears adjust quickly, and she both sees and hears movement from within the shed. Good, he’s home.

If she’s going to catch a ghost, she’s gonna need a sorcerer.


	4. Ghosts, and where to find them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chrome knows nothing about what came before the Stone World, but the feeling he gets in that moment is akin to a contestant on the show “Punk’d”.

Chrome is on board when Kohaku mentions Ruri. Come morning, they’re prepared with furs and some brightly coloured crystals he kept hidden in a basket behind all his boring rocks. “Ghost-sensors,” he called them. He’d taken her too literally about the ghost thing, and she tries to tell him, but she’d have better luck talking to one of these shiny rocks. They leave before anyone else in the village wakes up.

“The hunting parties already went this way,” Kohaku says, yawning into her hand. The sun’s just started to come up and they’ve been wandering for hours. She’s starting to think Chrome has no idea where he’s going when he stops suddenly.

“What do you know about deer?”

“That they scare easily and their meat doesn’t taste that good?”

“Actually, I was hoping you’d say they eat leaves.”

She blanks. “Huh..."

Chrome throws his hands out. “They eat leaves! So this deer-headed man must also eat leaves!”

“Uh-huh.” They’ve been out here too long. Chrome has completely lost his mind.

“Now to find some leaves...” he mumbles, rubbing his chin.

The pair come across a glen that Kohaku has never seen before, full of trees blooming fresh and green. For all the time she spends out in the forest, why hasn’t she ever come across this place? They’re unlike the evergreens with their pine needles; their leaves are plump and look soft. Kohaku diverges from Chrome to touch them and finds she was right, they _are_ soft, and velvety too. The underside is waxy. Kohaku collects a few to put in her pouch for Ruri, when a twig snapping steals her attention. A deer-shaped shadow moves through the trees, and off she goes after it. The deer-headed man won’t be getting away!

Without stopping to admire the scenery, Chrome marches through the trees, focused on his path. There were leaves that had bites taken out of them, so they must be getting close! Hm, there are tracks that lead in one direction and tracks that lead the opposite way. What is the deer-headed man doing? Around the trees, up a hill, more trees— Ouch! Chrome walked right into a wall. Where did this cliff come from? And wait, is that rustling? There’s definitely something up there!

Curiosity drives him up the wall, and in the middle of dusting his hands off on his pants, he hears it — a low rumbling, territorial and grizzly, and he freezes. It _can’t_ be. It’s the middle of winter! They’re usually asleep, right? He’s never had the bad luck of running into one, so Chrome cannot say with any certainty that it’s impossible for a bear to be woken from hibernation and go wandering around in search of the offending noise or food, or with the intention of turning that offending noise _into_ food, but he also hasn’t heard of it happening to anyone he knows. Or anyone that’s _lived,_ for that matter. Oh no. Where’s Kohaku? 

He makes himself dizzy spinning in circles. “Kohaku?” Oh no, was that too loud? He whispers her name, to which only silence answers. He tries again with a harsher whisper, and whips his head around. All he hears is the bear! Kohaku, where are you? The sound has gotten louder. It’s on his left, getting closer. Dread settles in like a cold breeze through an open window. Bears don’t have good hearing, right? That’s dogs. Haha, yeah. Dogs have good hearing. But on the off chance that bears _also_ have good hearing... This is super bad, and not the good kind of bad, either! The opposite direction looks promising for the lack of bear noises coming from there. Looks like he has no other choice!

A cautious man looks behind him. A smart man looks in front. Unfortunately for Chrome, he comes to discover he is neither of those things, and the direction in which he ran was not a straight path, but an incline, and as soon as he missteps, he swears for a moment he is suspended in mid air, and as he falls at molasses speed, he sees his life flash before his eyes. _'_ _What a boring life,’_ he thinks. Then down he goes.

If it were possible to roll into the next life, then Chrome’s just skipped the next ten reincarnations. He probably hits every tree branch on his way down and collects every damn rock in his mouth before he tumbles straight into a pit, and when he hits the ground, he’d like to say the sound he makes is that of a seasoned warrior landing coolly on his two feet. Certainly that’s the story he’ll tell Kohaku if he’s still alive by the end of this. He sure as hell didn’t make a deflating baby noise!

He’d assess the damage, except out of the corner of his eye he sees movement, and jumps back against the wall of the pit. There above looms a figure. The sun behind him shrouds him in shadow. Chrome squints to cut through the blinding light, only for his eyes and jaw to both fall open, because standing before him, with antlers on his head and the body of a human, is the deer-headed man!

...That’s it? Chrome expected the guy to be a bit more foreboding and ominous. For a ghost with a deer head, he doesn’t seem very deer-like — kneeling down, cocking his head, he’s too curious, not at all afraid, and when he leans forward, the deer head tips in a way that can only be done if the neck is broken. Something about this is off. Its features are pulled back in an unnatural way, like the skull is too big for the skin. Chrome tries to look underneath, but he only catches a glimpse, and he’s not entirely sure what it is he saw.

“H-Hey you, yeah you! You’ll be real sorry if you don’t stay back! I’ve got a bear on my side, she’s _baaad_ to the bone. She’ll snap your neck like a tw— Hey what’re you doin’?”

Climbing down like he was born to do it, Deer-Head seems to have misunderstood the threat and taken it as an invitation. With nowhere to run, Chrome shrinks back as Deer-Head approaches and prepares for the worst. He’s never feared death. He only fears dying without curing Ruri.

“Help.” Yet another unexpected thing, the guy can talk! “Can... help.” Well, he can talk minimally. He chops up his words and enunciates them like he’s chewing on sinew, and his syllables are harsh. How long has he been in the forest? Could it be that the villagers were wrong, and this isn’t someone from Ishigami Village?

Chrome won’t let his guard down. Just because he isn’t a criminal doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous. “I don’t need your help! I’m a _baaad_ sorcerer, I can help myself!”

Though he doesn’t say anything, it becomes clear Chrome isn’t getting a choice. A moment ago he was standing (not so) tall and resolute, and now he’s been effortlessly hoisted over the beast’s shoulder. Despite his protests, one way or another he’s being carried back up onto the grass. Deer-Head dumps him unceremoniously. Okay, that’s one problem solved, but wait, there’s still the threat of the bear! 

“Oh no, now you’ve done it. Behold, my bear can smell that I’m in danger and will come any second!”

“No.”

“No?”

“No bear. Only me.”

Chrome sputters. “It was right over there, I heard it!”

Deer-Head raises his hands and cuffs them around his mouth. He proceeds to make the very sound that sent Chrome scrambling in the first place. 

“No bear. Only me.”

“You don’t have to repeat it!” Those are not tears pricking the corners of his eyes, he’s just allergic to being made fun of. “Why were you making bear noises in the middle of the forest?”

“Catch food.” Then he points at the pit, and Chrome clues in.

“I just ruined your chances at dinner, huh.” He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. Wait, since when do ghosts eat?

Something seems to catch Deer-Head’s attention. Head perking up, he rushes in front of Chrome with his spear drawn. Something jumps out from the trees and rains down kicks and fists. The hunter takes one breath and then another hailstorm starts. Chrome sees a flash of yellow and recognizes the barrage style immediately. “Wait, Kohaku—”

Deer-Head takes a swing. Kohaku narrowly dodges, eyes wide at suddenly being put on the defensive, but she quickly recovers and attains the upper hand again by continuing to strike at breakneck speed. Over time, Deer-Head learns to read her and manages to parry, and when he can’t, he slips through her attacks despite being much bigger. Kohaku can’t get an effective hit in now that she’s lost the element of surprise. She fights desperately, yet still manages to bark an order at Chrome to get away.

“Kohaku wait, he’s not gonna hurt us!”

“What—” Deer-Head strikes her in the gut with the handle of his spear, sending her flying into the pit.

Chrome runs. “Kohaku! Are you okay?”

“I’m alright.” Now why couldn’t he have made a noise like _that_ when he fell? So much more dignified. To rub salt in the wound, Kohaku clambers up from the pit, further putting Chrome to shame. She drops the fighting stance, but remains tense. “What’s that about not hurting us?”

“He helped me outta the pit.”

“Probably so he can _eat_ you.” She glares at Deer-Head. It doesn’t help his case that his stomach growls at that moment.

“I dare him to try it! My ghost-sensors will blast him away—”

“Unless you’ve got something sharp in your pouch, I don’t think your sorcery will do much good.”

Deer-Head sets his spear down and crouches next to Chrome.

“Y’wanna see my ghost-sensors, Deer-Head?” He nods, so Chrome retrieves his shiny stones and sets them in Deer-Head’s hands. “There you go. Super _baaad,_ right? They’re warmed by life energy and get cold when they encounter something without it.” Deer-Head nods, but Chrome doesn’t think he understood a single word. He can make bear noises but can’t understand simple language? As impossible as it seems, maybe Deer-Head was _raised_ by a bear!

“Ghost...”

“Yeah, like the spirit of a person who’s already died!”

Deer-Head holds them up to the light, and tries to chew on them. “Hm.” He makes a face and sets them down. Tough luck, those things are inedible. Chrome’s already tried.

“See, Kohaku? My sensors work, ‘cause they attracted the deer-headed ghost!”

Is he _actually_ a ghost? Is that why no one’s been able to find him until now? Kohaku leans forward, trying to glean what’s under the deer head, but Deer-Head tips his head down, embarrassed. “What’re you hiding, deer man? Do you have a human face? Are you ugly or something? Is there just a skull under there?”

Chrome is curious too, damnit! But he doesn’t wanna force the poor guy to reveal it. It’s kinda traumatizing losing your head and having it be replaced by a deer head. “All I saw was darkness.” He shivers. “I don’t know if I wanna see the face of a ghost.”

They both look to Deer-Head, and he turns away. The silence makes them even more curious, but that silence is broken by his stomach growling again. Chrome feels even guiltier. “I’m real sorry about your dinner.”

“Do ghosts even need to eat?” Kohaku asks.

“Not a ghost... Tei.”

“Sounds like something a ghost would say,” she says flatly.

Chrome claps his hands together and bows. “Sorry again! Please don’t curse the village!”

Kohaku’s eyes widen. “Huh, wait, dinner?” A thought crosses her mind. “I hunted a deer over there by the glen. I mistook it for the deer-headed man and ended up killing it. I don’t know if anyone in the village will eat it, so why don’t we just give it to Tei?”

“Um… don’t…” He gestures, pausing from a long time and then sighing. Deciding the struggle to find the words isn’t worth it, he puts a hand on Kohaku’s shoulder in a way that reminds her of Ruri, and he shakes his head.

Kohaku holds his gaze, then looks at her lap, unable to stare into the black void of the deer head. “Okay, we’ll take it. Come on, Chrome.”

Tei tries to give the stones back to Chrome, but he waves his hand. “Keep them! I don’t want them falling into the wrong hands. Consider yourself my new sorcerer apprentice!”

They leave Tei standing alone in the snow. They don’t hear him when he says, “Bye-bye.”

Ishigami Village is in sight around sunset. Before they go their separate ways, Chrome to his supply shed and Kohaku to the chief’s house, Chrome stops her. He averts his eyes from the dead deer hanging so casually over her shoulder, trying not to be reminded of Tei. “Kohaku, what’re you gonna tell your dad?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She snorts.

It takes him a second, and he grins.

“We went hunting for a deer, and that’s what we found.”


	5. Feelings, and what to do with them

Winter melts away to spring, and the forest awakens.

After that time with Chrome and Kohaku, the groups of people who looked like them came into the forest less and less, until they dwindled down to only one or two, and that would only be to gather fruit from the bushes. This meant Tei could hunt in peace, as their clumsy trudging disturbed the wildlife and even set off one of his traps by mistake once, leaving him nothing but frostbitten meat for food that night. By no means is the forest silent, however. As the days grow longer, birds take to the sky and the ground below rustles. Nighttime is lit by fireflies and serenaded by frogs, and he can set aside his furs when he sleeps. Chrome’s ghost-sensors lay in a pouch under his head.

And though they pushed him away, at night he sees Kinrō and Ginrō, and Chrome and Kohaku too. He sees many of their kin, having spent much time watching them and listening to them, taking note of their weapons and clothing and leaving those things for them near the edge of the forest. He’s seen so much they’re seared into the backs of his eyelids. He leaves food too, and waits to see if anyone will take it. 

Ever since he began to see and hear the villagers in his sleep, he saw and heard less of those voices that have been with him as long as he can remember. When day would come, he’d be met with silence. No guidance, no order to wait patiently and strike at the right moment. No encouragement, no soft humming to blur the edges between wakefulness and sleep. They must be the “ghosts” that Chrome mentioned. Well, the ghost-sensors must not be working anymore. He’d failed as a “sorcerer apprentice.”

The days stretch on forever. He thought the night was his escape from the nothingness, until the dreams began to plague him during the day. They're not sounds _he’s_ making, and not things _he’s_ seeing, but words that seem to only come from inside his head when he closes his eyes, and when he’s trying to focus, when he’s washing and when he’s skinning and when he’s retracing his steps over and over back to the edge of the forest where the floating planks hang. He doesn’t dare cross that line, he doesn’t let himself be seen, because all he hears are Kinrō’s sharp words, “Leave, go away.”

Every time he hears those words, his hands shake. His head is too noisy.

He doesn’t like to hear those words because they have a habit of repeating over and over, so he tries to hear other things instead — Chrome calling things “ _baaad_ ” even though he’s talking about something good, and Ginrō’s giggling when he put on the hand coverings Tei brought him. These images warm his heart the most. He always has to stop and smile, and repeat the word “ _baaad_ ” to himself.

A little before the last full moon, he encountered a melon with legs doing something with her voice similar to Tei’s animal calls but not quite right. It appeared to have no purpose other than expressing happiness, and he surprised her when he hummed the same song in response, albeit off-key. Though she’d been afraid, she didn’t run away, and to reward her, Tei called to a chipmunk and held it in his hand for her to pet. She gave him a smooth rock in return, and that rock now rests under his sleeping bundle along with Chrome’s ghost-sensors. He hums her song, wondering if it will call her back. It doesn’t.

A few days after he ran into the melon, he overheard an older man that looked like Kinrō speaking loudly with another man whose face had deep indents along his cheeks. Tei saw a broken rope trap in his hands, which he tossed to the ground, and when they left, Tei fixed it for them. The next day, the trap caught a rabbit, and both men were quite pleased. The one that looked like Kinrō seemed to notice Tei in the trees. It felt like they made eye contact, but he couldn’t be sure.

There are many more images like these, but between these moments is always silence. Once the image is gone, Tei faces the forest yet again. He’s not sure which he dislikes more.

It begins to dawn on him that being “only one” isn’t how he’s supposed to be, but he doesn’t _really_ know what he’s supposed to be and has no one he can ask, and even if he did, he wouldn’t know _how_ to ask. Rummaging through his mind, he can come up with more words he didn’t know he knew — sadness and anger, but they do not describe the heaviness of his heart, the tightness in his throat, the wetness of his eyes. His eyes have never stung so much. Is it possible to be hurt on the inside? These feelings are new territory for him. Frustration, disappointment, but most of all, _loneliness;_ without a hand to guide him, he’s hopelessly lost.

Nighttime and sleep are comforting, but the day is agonizing. Hunting is a good distraction, but it’s not good to hunt distracted. The last few days he’s come up empty-handed, returning home only to lay on the floor and stare up at the leaves that make up his shelter while his previous hunt rots away in the corner. It’s a waste, yet he cannot bring himself to down a single scrap. As his stomach twists and cries out for sustenance, his eyes fall closed, and he listens for a sign that something is here with him. There is nothing.

He falls asleep to the image of hunting with Kohaku, and wakes to a pair of glowing eyes. 

Every muscle in his body tenses. If she notices him wake, she doesn’t indicate her feelings on the matter. She cocks her head left and right, tail swaying playfully, like she has yet to decide whether this is a friend or food. She leans forward to take a sniff. Her eyes narrow, and she opens her mouth wide, forcing Tei to stare down a tunnel of death, but this won’t be the moment she tears into his eyeballs. She’s just yawning because she’s bored. 

She snorts, the force of which throws Tei’s hair out of his face. He doesn’t react. The novelty of her new toy has worn off. She licks him, and leaps from the dwelling to the forest floor below, disappearing into the underbrush. He catches a glimpse of her ears before she goes.

Tei stares blankly at the sky. The image of running through the forest with Kohaku has long since been abandoned by the hunter, replaced by yellow eyes and sharp teeth. He blinks once but the image remains. He blinks again and it still clings to his periphery. Only when he’s certain it’s gone does he sit up. 

If this were any other mountain lion, he might just accept he is lucky, but _that_ mountain lion was missing something. Two winters ago, he came across a cub no bigger than his hand, pinned beneath the claws of a black bear. It must’ve wandered into the bear’s territory and gotten caught. Tei threw rotten meat at the bear to scare it off, freeing the cub. Instead of running away, the baby ran to him and curled up in his lap. He tended to its wound, fed it some fresh meat, and sent it on its way. 

He never forgot the lion cub with only one ear.


	6. Life, and what it takes to lose it

At dawn the sky cracks open and pours its heart out. Yesterday’s humidity came as a warning, and Tei got up before the sun rose to go hunt for food knowing it would rain. It didn’t save him from getting soaked, but at least he’d managed to catch and kill a small wild pig before the downpour. When the weather’s dry, chasing it is still the least of his worries. The hard part is carrying it back, because even at this size, it weighs enough to struggle, and with the added weight of the rain, he had to tie it to his back to keep from losing his balance.

His feet sink and slide in the mud, and every time he dips back, he comes closer to hitting the ground, and the trees are too wet to give purchase, forcing him to rely on the strength of his legs alone, and they threaten to give out under the weight of this pig. Wild pigs are known for being dense creatures, and that’s why he rarely hunts them. It’s just a kid, though, its tusks nowhere near fully grown. Thankfully he’s never run into an adult.

Making the mistake of trying the grass, he cannot catch himself and actually slips and falls. When he gets up, he cannot recognize where he is. The dark crept up on him, waiting for his back to be turned. It’s unbelievable how much rain changes the terrain, but it’s never been this bad. He might as well be wading through a pond for how deeply the ground is flooded, and all his tracks and paths have disappeared.

He can’t tell the wind apart from a wolf’s howl. He can’t make out his hands in front of his face. A flash of light splits the sky, and then a rumble shakes him to his core. This is no ordinary rain. How are the people beyond the forest faring?

A screech pierces the silence between the thunder and the next flash. Illuminated for just a second is a beastly shape. Tei didn’t need a clear picture of it. All he needed to see was its long white tusks and he’s making for the trees. He gets about halfway before he loses his grip and crashes in the mud. Sensing impending danger charging from behind, he barely manages to throw himself out of the way of a fatal impact that sends the tree crashing down. It snorts and squeals, and backs up for another round. The shadow its image leaves behind is bigger than Tei’s entire body. Its tusk nicks his arm that time.

As he scrambles to his feet, he retrieves his hunting knife and begins cutting at his ties. Once the dead weight is freed, the difference is extraordinary, and the sudden release almost sends him back to the ground, but he won’t allow himself to fall again, he _can’t_ allow himself to fall again, not with the boar so close behind him that its hot breath is burning his feet. 

He’s running but has no idea where he should go. It’s too wet to climb trees, it’s too dangerous to try swimming across the river, and trying to fight the thing is out of the question. Breathing hurts. The forest is too loud. Every turn he makes could be his last but he keeps making them because it’s better than giving the beast a straight line of sight. Those precious seconds it takes to switch course are the only thing keeping him alive right now. He can’t run forever, though. He knows it, and so does the boar. It’s a matter of who will get tired faster, and Tei had a head start.

Another flash of lightning, and suddenly he recognizes where he is. A little farther and he’d be near the pit where he met Chrome!

The flooding isn’t as bad on higher ground, but that doesn’t make it easier to navigate. The trees are not as dense and that means he’s easier to spot. It’s just a little farther, he just has to wind a little sharper and push a little harder and run a little faster, he just has to make it to his pitfall trap. Hope and fear drive his aching muscles past their breaking point. It’s enough, he’s made it, he’ll be okay.

It blindsides him.

Coming from his left, it collides with him, sending one of its tusks ripping through his side and pinning him to a tree, lodging itself good and deep. It squeals as it tries to rip its head free. With each move it tears him apart a little more, and he cries out from the unbearable pressure. His own blood strangles him as it propels itself from his mouth in a coughing fit. There’s supposed to be pain, he knows he’s supposed to be feeling pain but it’s just numb and cold, little pin pricks all over his skin like he’s been thrown into a field of burrs while also being roasted over a hot fire, but there’s still no pain. That has to be wrong.

Colourful spots dance along the edge of his vision. They almost tease him as he retrieves his spear. He tries humming the same tune that the little melon did, maybe she’ll hear him. It’s not her, but something reaches out to him; the soft voice and rough hands from the pictures in his head, his guidance. They’re both here. They’re fearful.

_“Tei, look at me.”_ She holds his face in her hands, tears welling up in her eyes. _“You’ve never been just one.”_

The other settles his large hand on Tei’s shoulder. _“You can’t follow us yet, son.”_

He doesn’t need to know the words to know what they’re saying to him. An unnatural calm settles over him. Now that they are with him again, he has nothing to worry about. He wedges his spear into the boar’s skull where the tusk connects, and he wrenches it, snapping the tusk in half and freeing both himself and the boar. It cries out and backs up, getting ready to impale him again with its remaining tusk. 

Mid-stride it’s struck to the ground. Tei catches the blur’s tail and cannot believe what he’s seeing. Only through the flashes of light can he make out what’s happening, and what he comes face to face with is a bloody, gruesome mess. Neither he nor the boar had time to register the attack, but standing there staring at him is the mountain lion from the other day. She sets down the chunk of meat in her mouth, continuing to watch him with her tail lashing. She doesn’t budge from her spot as he stumbles past her, though he keeps his eye on her and hopes he’s not mistaking her hunger for mercy. 

When he stands at the opposite end of the clearing, he turns to her and, clapping his hands together and bowing as low as he can, he coughs out a weak, “Thank… you…”

Her eyes narrow. For a moment it seems like she’s changed her mind, but he has mistaken her intentions once again. She throws her head back to roar into the sky. Head falling, she returns his gaze. Tei nods, finally understanding. This is repayment. They’re even.

Hobbling away from the clearing, instinct takes control of his body to directions unknown. His vision is blurry and declining fast, the light stealing away from the edge of his vision until he’s once again met with a tunnel of death. The dirt begins to glow, almost like the sun has started to shine, though he knows it’s still raining, and with this realization, the pain decides to show itself. What an ugly head it rears. Are the colourful lights from the pain? Or from the sky? As long as he sees them, he can follow.

“Halt! Who goes there?” 

A voice breaks through the clouds in his brain but it’s not enough to clear it. The ebb and flow of the darkness has a pull like water, and he’s drowning. “He...l...p…” Breathing is agony. “Help me.”

“Kinrō, look! It’s Tei, and he’s really hurt!”

Tei lurches. The sky is clear above him, its teardrops cleanse his face. Something warm touches him.

Kinrō swallows thickly. He’s never seen so much blood. “W-We, we have to do something.”

Ginrō looks up to him, eyes wide. “But the rules… Kinrō, you’ve never—”

“I know!” Ginrō flinches at his brother’s outburst. “But Tei, he… he’s going to—” He shakes his head. “I’ll carry him. You go call for help.”

He doesn’t have to ask Ginrō twice.

Kinrō wraps Tei’s arm around his shoulder and uses all the strength he can muster to lift the larger man. He fights the nagging feeling at the back of his head, that this is no use, that Tei can’t possibly survive with that much blood loss, that he’s about to watch someone die and it’ll be all his fault. He should’ve never sent Tei away. 

They make it across the bridge and into the village, where villagers run up to them in a panic.

“Please Tei, don’t give up.”

But Tei doesn’t answer. He’s already fallen asleep in the arms of his guardians.


	7. Endings, and the paths that take you there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we've arrived at the final chapter! I want to give a special shoutout to my favourite old granny @Madame_Tentacle for beta reading this story even though she doesn't go here. I also want to thank you, special viewer, for taking the time to read my little story. It means the world to me that there are people out there who love my feral forest boy. I hope you enjoy the final chapter, and I hope to be seeing you around for future projects! Thank you!

Alabaster’s girls are at it again.

From a distance, Magma watches the scene unfold, biting his thumb. That damn outsider, who the hell does he think he is, coming in and stealing all the village’s girls without even trying? They’ve been at this for at least a week, and he hasn’t come to greet them. So not only is he a bastard, but he’s a snob too! What does he have that the great _Magma_ doesn’t? Someone oughta teach him a lesson.

“Garnet, move over! I can’t see.”

“Well Sapphire, I’m the oldest, so of course I should go first. You’ll get your turn after— hey, Ruby!”

“You two can fight over there while _I_ get a look at the deer-headed man.”

“Nuh-uh, he’s mine.” Sapphire peeks through the window, but she can’t see anything and sighs. “I heard he has a handsome face under that deer head.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Garnet says, forgoing all sense of etiquette and shoving right into her sister’s space. “He was able to hold his own against Kinrō and apparently got injured in a fight against a wild boar, so that means he’s _strong._ ”

Ruby hums and leans against the wall. “That stuff’s important, sure, but the _most_ important thing is that he had a spear on him. Just think of all the food he can provide!”

Sapphire sighs again, her eyes falling closed. “What a man. Ugh, it’s so unfair to keep him locked up in that awful doctor’s house.”

Speaking of the devil, the doctor opens the window and leans out, addressing them with a cool smile. They freeze and back up. “Ladies, I’m aware you’re curious, and believe me when I say I’d be the last person to stifle your passions, but couldja keep it down?”

“Sorry, Dr. Kalium,” they say in unison.

He tosses them a fake smile and shuts the window.

“Those girls come here everyday,” his apprentice remarks from across the room. “Don’t they get bored of bothering some poor sleeping patient? It’s not like he’s gonna wake up and propose to them.”

The doctor comes to sit by her to inspect her work. Her bandaging is starting to look better than his. What a brat. “Neon, couldja get Kohaku to bring some of that hot spring water? We’ll need to wash his wound later.”

“Sure thing, Doc.”

The doctor leans back in his seat, intending to catch some shuteye, when something grabs his attention. “Well wouldja look at that. Our patient isn’t sleeping anymore. Morning, sunshine.”

By the time Kohaku returns with her spring water, a raging fire of gossip has swept through the village. With shifty eyes they hold their hands over their mouths like they’ve just eaten something too spicy. The idiots think that can hide the things they’re saying, but nasty words find a way to bleed through the cracks in one’s fingers, and Kohaku catches bits and pieces of their conversation. The deer-headed man has awoken. Now he can confess to his crimes and defend himself, or plead for mercy. Having spoken to him once before, she knows firsthand these accusations are ridiculous. She can’t forget how he rejected her kill that day. Tei won’t beg or plead or confess to a single thing.

A crowd gathers in front of the doctor’s house. He stands guard at the door, resolute despite his lanky stature, refusing to let anyone push past. When it comes to his patients, the man’s a bull.

“Hey Doc,” Kohaku calls, nudging through villagers.

He lights up when he spots her. “Ah, Kohaku! There you are. Come inside, but do it gently. The guy’s pretty spooked.”

She treads lightly, following the doctor to a room on the left, sets her pot down near the bedside, and distantly converses with the apprentice about the lack of privacy and the nerve of these villagers. All the while a gaze bores into her back. She doesn’t meet it just yet. That day, she couldn’t really look at him either. All she saw staring back at her was her own reflection, and when she got home that night, she’d dreamt of Tei, but when he removed the deer head, all that was left was his lower jaw and part of his ears. The upper half was gone.

When she gathers the courage to look, she’s struck by pale blue eyes and an even paler complexion. Where she expects antlers sits mousy hair. There’s no deer head, just a human face. A whole one. One barely older than her. The answer’s obvious, but she still has to ask. “Is that you, Tei?”

Tei nods.

“Do you remember me?”

“Ko… Kohaku.”

The doctor perks up. “Oh, so he speaks!”

Kohaku smiles. “I’m glad you’re okay!”

“It’s a good thing you’re here, or else we wouldn’t’ve gotten anything outta him.” Neon retrieves some towels and gets to soaking them.

“I’ve been tryna coax some information outta him all day. Reluctance to answer doesn’t look very good for him. What if he really is a murderer? I’m worried for my apprentice’s safety.” 

Neon looks offended. Kalium sticks his tongue out at her.

“He doesn’t talk or understand very much. You gotta use small words and short sentences.” Kohaku puts a hand on Tei’s shoulder. It’s not that he’s reluctant to answer their questions, and truthfully she feels he understands more than they give him credit for, but he doesn’t know where he is or why this is happening, he doesn’t know any of these people, and everything the villagers are saying can be heard in here even with the window closed. He’s far from home, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and helpless. When she looks into his eyes, all she sees is a cornered deer, the same that she killed that day.

“He better learn quick then, ‘cause the Chief’s gonna question him, and if he isn’t satisfied with the answers, then your deer-headed friend’s going right back outside the village.”

Kohaku reels. “What?! But we can’t! He’s hurt!”

Kalium shrugs his shoulders. “It’s been two weeks, that’s plenty of time to get over a scratch.” Kohaku wants to punch that carefree look right off his face, until she sees that his hand is balled in a fist, shaking. He’s not looking at her.

Kohaku deflates. “You already tried to talk to him.”

“Your whole family’s stubborn, what can I say.”

She sits there stunned in silence, fuming. Kokuyo is prideful and suffers from tunnel vision, and he’s got an absurd dedication to the rules, but Kohaku’s never known her father to be outright _heartless._ In the end, he does what’s best for the village. Throwing an injured man into the wild to fend for himself is _not_ what’s best for the village. 

Neon finishes removing Tei’s bandages and starts gently wiping down his abdomen. The skin around Tei’s wound is gnarled and angry, and it bleeds a little when Neon applies pressure. He grunts, breath hitching the more she presses. Kohaku winces for his sake. She’s had some pretty nasty injuries, but even she couldn’t just grin and bear the pain of that one. She doesn’t know anyone who could survive something like that anyways, or she didn’t, until now.

“You’re thinking very loudly,” Kalium says beside her, smirking. “He survived because _I’m_ the one that treated him.” 

Kohaku snorts. “Wow, how lucky we are to have you around, Doc.”

“Y’wanna know how I did it?” He doesn’t wait for her to answer. “I have all these really thin, sharp rocks that can withstand the heat of any fire. All I had to do was heat them up red hot, and then—”

Kohaku shoves his face out of her way. “I’m gonna give my dad a piece of my mind.” She’s out the door before he can say another word.

Neon snorts. “Wow, I think that’s a new record.”

“Can it, kid.”

The closer Kohaku gets to her house, the more she can pick up on yelling coming from inside. From the sounds of it, Kokuyo is already engaged in a heated debate on what to do with the outsider now that he’s awake. Well, what’s one more voice in a sea of mutiny? She slams open the door, the force of which effectively shutting everyone up at once. Paying no mind to the stares and the hanging jaws, she marches right up to her father. “You can’t just throw him out.”

Kokuyo knew his daughter was coming, however, and he rises to stare her down. What a daughter he’s been blessed with — always running around defying his every command, breaking rules like it’s her job, and the worst of it is when she stands up to him, barely reaching his shoulder but determined to challenge his authority. “That’s not a decision I can make on my own.”

Her eyes flare up. “You’re _Chief,_ you get the last say on everything.”

If only he could live such a carefree life where he ruled according to his own beliefs, never taking into account anyone else’s feelings. Doing what he thinks is right and alienating his people, now that would be easy, and how can he blame her for acting that way? She can’t be expected to understand the challenges that come with being chief when she’s never going to attain it, so it’s time Kohaku learned how _hard_ being chief really is. “We don’t do things that way. I have to take into account what the villagers want.”

“I could’ve sworn we had about _forty_ villagers, so why do I only count ten?”

“Kohaku, you—”

Alabaster clears his throat. “There’s no harm in hearing her out.”

“We weren’t getting anywhere anyways,” Hagane huffs.

Kokuyo is no match for his committee. He sighs and takes a seat. “Fine. Sit and observe, Kohaku.”

She takes her place beside old man Kaseki.

“So as I was saying before the interruption,” Sagan begins, “are we even sure he’s a criminal we kicked out? He’s still quite young, maybe he was born outside the village?”

“If he was,” Genbu says, stroking his beard, “then that still makes him an outsider. We’ve never made a habit of taking in outsiders, we shouldn’t start now.”

“What if his parents were criminals who broke the rules? Can we really trust him when he says he lives alone?”

“That’s a fair point, Dia, but should we hold the sins of the parents against the child?” Hagane shakes his head. “That doesn’t sit right with me.”

Tetsuken speaks up from where he’s standing at the window. “My sons told me what he did for them. He brought them fur coverings for their hands and feet during the winter, and you _know_ how many people lose fingers and toes to frostbite every year. He’s been leaving us food and tools, and fixed our traps. He warded off the mountain lion that’s been stalking our village. This was our first easy winter in a long while. I cannot reconcile my image of the gentle deer-headed man with the malicious deer-headed man you’ve conjured.”

“But how would we know if it was really him that did those things? Can we really trust the testimony of two children?”

“Are you doubting my boys?” Tetsuken turns, fire in his eyes.

Natri steps in. “Children are prone to making up stories. We can’t really be sure—”

“Exactly my point.” Genbu nods confidently, gaining steam. “No one else was with them when this supposedly happened, and it’s suspicious that _you_ were the one to find the fixed trap.”

“Now you’re casting your doubts on me? You forget Argo was with me that day.”

“But Argo’s not here with us _today._ If he was certain this deer-headed man isn’t dangerous, why isn’t he here defending him?”

“We’re not here to discuss your private feuds, gentlemen,” Alumi scoffs. She shakes her head. “Our rules have kept us safe for generations. Why should we start changing them now? Disrespecting our ancestors like that is going to bring a lot of bad luck.”

“I don’t like the idea of throwing him out when he’s still injured. That just seems cruel. We can let Dr. Kalium look after him until he’s better, then send him out.”

“But Alabaster, that’s still giving him the room to live among us and potentially hurt us.”

Hagane grips his knees. “If his intention was to hurt us, he’s had months to do it, but he hasn’t, which speaks to his character.”

Kaseki, who has been quiet up until now, speaks up with a simple question. “Have you all forgotten about Soyuz?”

A hush falls over the committee. Soyuz the outsider, who’d arrived as an infant from unknown lands, who was unlike any of them but was welcomed regardless. Kokuyo presses Kaseki. “What about him?”

“No outsiders, that’s our rule, except we already broke that rule by allowing an outsider to move in, so what’s one more?”

“Soyuz was a baby. This is completely different.”

“It is not!” Kaseki stands suddenly, voice booming. “None of us recognize the deer-headed man. If he was not born in our village, then there’s no way he could’ve broken our rules or done something criminal that warranted being kicked out, so he was definitely raised in the forest, but judging by his age, isn’t there something off about him? Though he is easily as tall as some of our own men, he can barely speak and understands even less. Shouldn’t his parents have taught him? Where are they? Soyuz was a baby without parents, who couldn’t speak or understand either, so, what does the deer-headed man remind you of?”

No one dares to answer.

No one but Kohaku.

“A child.”

Her voice breaks the spell on everyone else, and an uproar ensues. Voices climb over each other, their owners fighting to make their outrage known. A man with the mind of a child? It’s impossible! But if it was true, that meant they were throwing a child back into harm’s way. Unthinkable!

“All of you be quiet!” Kokuyo slams his fist on the table. They all shut up when he stands and begins to pace. He makes eye contact with every single one of them, scrutinizing their intent, challenging their dissidence. The only one who stares back is Kohaku. She’s staring at him expectantly, and for once, Kokuyo doesn’t see disdain in her eyes, but pleading. She’s pleading with him to do the right thing. The point of letting her stay was to prove to her that doing the right thing isn’t always possible. Well, that failed. Of course it did. Usually these things end with everyone on the same page, or at least more neutral than they started. What’s the right thing to do? She’s more sure than ever. And him? He’s the least sure he’s ever been.

Tetsuken has the gall to speak. “What are you going to do, Chief?”

Kokuyo’s eyes fall closed. This is a headache and a half. Is it possible to wait it out, let it go away on its own? Can this kind of thing solve itself? As it turns out, yes it can.

“Chief, come quick! Someone help!” Ganen runs in and falls at Kokuyo’s feet. “That blockhead Magma went and attacked the outsider!”

“What?!”

Kohaku dashes off, leaving her father choking in her dust. “Kohaku, wait! Damnit, that girl…”

“How do you like that, outsider? That’ll teach you to terrorize our village!” Pots lay in pieces around their feet. The strange man and the young woman who were caring for him scramble to pick up their tools while avoiding getting their hands stepped on by the brute that’s broken in. Herbs are strewn about, kicked up by the flurry of movement. Tei ducks beneath the giant’s wide swings and long club. A few villagers have already been downed by his thrashing, and more hang back to watch the scene unfold. Every time he lifts his club, Sapphire and her sisters cry out, begging him to stop.

“You’re a real piece of work, Magma.” Kalium narrowly dodges Magma’s fist. “Hey, watch it!”

“Sorry Doc, maybe you should stop gettin’ in my way!”

Thinking he’s got a straight shot, Magma puts everything he’s got into the next swing, but the outsider, having braced himself already, catches it between his hands. Magma tries to pull his club away and finds he can’t. It won’t budge, the outsider’s got a solid grip. Doesn’t matter which way he pulls, the outsider won’t let up, and this pisses Magma off. Gritting his teeth, he lets go of the club and goes straight for it with his bare hands. “Ha! I don’t need it anyway.”

Leaving the club in the outsider’s hands is the kind of mistake that leaves a bruise. He’s faster than Magma, and in the time it takes him to complete yet another swing that’s too wide, the outsider is already using his opponent’s uneven center of gravity against him, ducking to sweep the ground with the club and knocking the larger male off his feet. He collides with the ground, leaving a dust cloud in his wake.

And then Tei falls.

“That goddamn maniac!” Kalium and Neon rush over to their patient, disturbed to find that his wound has opened up again and is soaking the ground with blood.

Kohaku appears at that moment and delivers Magma a swift kick to the back of the head, landing gracefully on his back and forcing him down again. “What’s going on? How can I help?”

“We need someone to get a fire going!” Kalium applies pressure on his patient’s abdomen. It’s not enough to stop the bleeding, but it should staunch the flow. Even a tiny bit is better than nothing. Tei groans weakly. Good, that means he’s still got enough blood to whine. “Get that bonehead Magma to start one with Mantle.”

“Roger that!” Kohaku grabs Magma by the ear and drags him from the ground. “You listen here! If Tei dies because of you then I’m castrating you myself!”

He’s about to say something when a voice much scarier than Kohaku’s cuts him off. “Just go, you idiot!”

The villagers give Kokuyo space. Save for a few whispers, they’re entirely silent. The chief is protecting the outsider and demanding he be taken care of. What could this mean? Magma spits on the ground and storms off into the doctor’s house, grumbling about an outsider getting preferential treatment. He’s the only one who has the impudence to say it loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I’ve come to my decision.”

The doctor rolls his eyes. “Well couldja hurry it up a little Chief, we don’t have all day.”

Kokuyo takes a deep breath. “The outsider stays. Treat him like you’d treat one of your own.” He sneaks a glance at Kohaku and is relieved to find her staring back at him with pride. If she smiled at him like that more often, he’d be the richest man in the world.

“Doctor, Magma broke some of the tools I was carrying in my bag when he stormed past me.” Neon unravels the pitiful leftovers of her toolkit. “What do we do?”

“I’ll help!” Suika gets a head start and rolls off to go find some rocks for the doctor to heat up.

“I’ve got a lot of cobwebs in my hut, that might stop the bleeding!” Sango pulls on Shirogane’s arm. “I’ve seen some by your place too!”

“Oh, you’re right. We’ll be right back.”

Kokuyo turns to Kohaku. “Go get Chrome. He must have something for the pain. And the rest of you get out of here! Get back to work!”

“Sorry, Chief!”

“And Doctor?” He eyes Kalium. “Don’t let him die.”

Kalium nods. “Sure thing, Chief.”

When Tei opens his eyes, he’s pleasantly surprised to find that he is not in immense pain. He’s even more surprised to see Ginrō by his bedside, eyes puffy and red. If he angles his head a bit, he can see the tip of Kinrō’s spear from where he stands guard at the door. That tightness in his chest returns, but it’s not painful this time. The pressure behind his eyes spills over, and he can only manage a shaky “ _Ginrō_ ” before he’s gasping and it’s too hard to speak, and he has to cover his face with his hand.

Ginrō practically leaps out of his seat. “Tei! Are you okay?”

He’s not quite sure, but he nods.

Kinrō leaves his post. As cool as he seems, he grips Tei’s arm with a bruising amount of strength. “It’s alright, we won’t make you leave this time.”

“That’s right! You get to stay in the village!” Ginrō bounces.

Kinrō moves Tei’s hands from his face and wipes his tears. “You won’t be alone anymore.”

“If you have any questions, just rely on me, okay? Maybe you can even call me your big br—”

“ _Ginrō._ ”

“Eep! I’m kidding!”

Tei is silent for a moment, and then he realizes he _does_ have a question. “Why… uh, why… bear…”

“Bear?” they parrot.

He lifts his arms, mimicking claws, and furrows his brows. “Bear, uh… bear in the v… vill… village?”

Bear… _Bear?_

Ginrō laughs so hard his face turns red. He laughs and laughs. He laughs himself all the way out the door, and he’s still laughing, until it sounds like he’s crying. Kinrō shrugs his shoulders. He’s smiling, but he still goes to reprimand his brother for his inappropriate timing.

Tei doesn’t know what they’re laughing at, but he smiles too.


End file.
